The invention relates to a method for operating a vaporizer of a domestic appliance, the vaporizer being provided with a heating system and having at least part of a level detector for detecting a predetermined filling level and at least part of an overheating detector for establishing that the heating system has overheated. The invention further relates to a vapor processing appliance that is set up to perform the method. The invention is particularly advantageously applicable to steam cooker appliances, either as individual appliances or combination appliances.
Vaporizers for domestic appliances that are filled and emptied in time-controlled manner using pumps are known. Since the throughput rate of pumps generally fluctuates, if emptying is controlled purely by time the pump may briefly run dry. This in turn has a negative effect on the service life of the pump, and is associated with high levels of noise emission.
DE 10 2006 029 578 A1 discloses a steam cooker as a vaporizer arrangement having a vaporizer for water, wherein the vaporizer has a heatable water container and an identification region, which is attached to the water container in the manner of communicating tubes, for identifying the filling level of the water container. The identification region is in upright tubular form and has at least one sensor for detecting the filling level.
DE 10 2009 044 053 A1 discloses a steam generator for a domestic appliance, having a vaporizing chamber to which a connector for feeding in water and at least one connector for removing vapor are attached such that they conduct flow, and having a heatable vaporizer surface that is arranged at an angle to the horizontal in the installed position and above which a vaporizing chamber for the generated vapor is formed, in which a flow of vapor in the direction of the vapor outlet is formed, wherein the water intake to the vaporizer surface can be controlled or regulated by way of a pump or a valve that is arranged in the infeed line and the water level above the vaporizer surface is detected by means of a level monitoring arrangement and is evaluated for control of the water supply to the vaporizer surface. In order to construct a steam generator for a domestic appliance that has a small overall volume and high heat output and vapor output and is constructed for continuous steam generation and in which the possibility that the heating arrangement will run dry is reliably avoided, the level monitoring arrangement is arranged in the region of the vaporizing chamber of the steam generator in which there is formed only a low intensity of flow, or none at all, of the steam over the vaporizer surface.
DE 10 2010 029 307 A1 discloses a domestic appliance having a container for receiving liquids, which is set up in particular for storing a detergent and for automatically dispensing said detergent. An electrical measuring arrangement that measures a filling level of the storage container is provided. The measuring arrangement has two measuring electrodes, which are arranged spaced from one another in the container, and a circuit arrangement, which is coupled to the measuring electrodes and is constructed to apply an alternating voltage between the measuring electrodes and to measure at least one measuring variable that is correlated to the alternating voltage and to a conduction value of a medium that is located between the measuring electrodes. Also disclosed is a corresponding level measuring method.
WO 2009/007456 A2 discloses a device for adding water to the steam generation in a cooker appliance, having a vaporizer vessel, to which water may be supplied as a function of the filling level of water in the vaporizer vessel, and electrodes, by means of which the filling level of the water in the vaporizer vessel may be detected, wherein an inner wall of the vaporizer vessel takes the form, at least in part, of an electrically conductive material and this part of the inner wall is a first electrode.
EP 0 471 342 A2 discloses an arrangement in which two measuring electrodes are arranged in a container at different horizontal and vertical distances from an electrically conductive, grounded inner wall of the container, one of them in the region of the ice layer that forms. The measuring electrodes pick up resistance values of the ice and/or the water that is located between the electrodes and the container inner wall. For cooling the water, regardless of its chemical/physical composition, potentials that correspond to the resistance values are formed and are supplied to a difference amplifier. Depending on a comparison of the size of the two resistance values, a refrigerator unit that acts on the content of the container is switched on or off.
DE 10 2009 055 146 A1 discloses a vapor generation system for a domestic appliance, in particular a steam cooker appliance, which has at least one emptiable liquid reservoir, a vaporizer that may be supplied with liquid from the liquid reservoir by way of at least one supply line, and at least one pump for moving the liquid, wherein the liquid may be fed back in the direction of the liquid reservoir by means of the at least one pump. A method serves for operation of the vapor generation system.
DE 19741881 A1 discloses a domestic appliance for steam cooking at close to ambient pressure, which has a cooking chamber, a vapor generator with a heating arrangement, and a temperature sensor that is connected to a regulating arrangement for regulating the heating arrangement of the vapor generator. In order to provide a domestic appliance for steam cooking at close to ambient pressure in which exclusively vapor is used for cooking, and which is to be capable of installation in the kitchen flexibly and independently of conditions at the installation site, the vapor generator is arranged with the heating arrangement separate and outside the cooking chamber. Preferably, a water container is arranged in the area surrounding the vapor generator, and the temperature sensor is arranged in the cooking chamber.